The Real World
by mysterybooklover
Summary: Takes place after "Always", maybe late afternoon of the following day. Just a fluffy, sappy scene that came to me and I had to write it!


**Author's Note: This scene just came to me the other day, and I couldn't get it out of my head, so I had to write it. I picture this happening on the day after "Always", sometime in the late afternoon of that day. **

Disclaimer: I don't own Castle or any of its characters; I just love them!

The Real World

Rick and Kate were standing in the foyer of Rick's loft. He reached his hand out to her and said, "So, ready to face the real world?"

She took his hand and gave a quick nod of her head. But as he started for the door, her feet stayed planted in place, so he felt a tug on his arm as he tried to proceed. He looked back at her, and questioned, "You okay?"

Her eyes looked down at the floor, she took a deep breath, then lifted her chin to look toward his face, his gaze full of concern. "Before we go," she started, "there's something I need to tell you. Something I should have told you last night."

Even more concern flashed across his face in that moment. What more could she have to tell him? After she had come to his door the night before, dripping wet, filled with heartfelt apologies, after the release of four years of pent-up desire and emotion, after they had given themselves to each other more than once, when they lay in each other's arms in the dim light of his bedroom in the early morning hours, she had told him what had transpired in the 24 hours since he had last seen her. He had heard the story of how she had followed and fought with Maddox on the hotel rooftop. She had told him how she had tried unsuccessfully to find out the name of the person responsible for all the loss and hurt in her life. He had seen the bruises on her skin as she told him of her narrow escape from death, thanks to the intervention of their good friend Kevin. Rick was reminded again that he would never be able to thank Kevin enough for saving the life of the woman he loved more than life itself. And now she stood before him, with something more to tell him, causing him to wonder what else they would have to work through.

Inwardly, he braced himself for whatever it could be, but outwardly, the only sign was a slight raising of his eyebrows and a tip of his head in her direction, as he waited for her to speak.

But Kate's face held no sadness, no fear, no hurt. Instead, a hint of a smile played at the corners of her mouth, as she raised herself up to her full height, and said, in the sweetest voice he had ever heard, "I love you."

All the tension Rick had felt in his stomach and chest released itself in a sharp exhale of air from between his lips, and his eyebrows lifted even higher on his forehead. With two steps, he closed the distance that stood between them, placed his hands on her shoulders, and said, "You do?"

Silently, she nodded her head and bit her bottom lip with her top teeth, in that endearing way she so often did.

Rick's hands moved to the sides of her face, his brows furrowed slightly, and lowering his voice he said, "Could you just say that again?"

With that, her face broke out in the biggest, brightest and widest of smiles and a slight giggle escaped from her throat. Their faces were now inches apart, and she looked up into Rick's bright blue eyes and repeated the words he had longed to hear, "I love you ... so much."

He pulled her face to his, and placed a firm kiss to her lips, but almost before she had a chance to respond, he pulled his lips away, wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulled her to him until her feet left the floor, and twirled her around in a complete revolution, leaving her breathless, her arms tight around his torso. As he set her back down, he buried his face in the hair that cascaded down the side of her neck and over her shoulder. He inhaled deeply, drinking in the scent that was so distinctly her - that scent he couldn't get enough of.

His hands went to her shoulders again, as he pulled back just enough that they were looking at each other eye to eye, their foreheads touching. His voice so hoarse with emotion that it came out almost as a whisper, he said, "Oh Kate, I love you too, ... sooo much." Their lips met again, but this time the kiss was slower, softer, sweeter, as if they had all the time in the world to savour this moment, this feeling of being in love. As their kiss ended, Kate settled the side of her head into the center of Rick's chest, and he rested his chin on the top of her head, pulling her shoulders tightly to himself. They stood there in the quiet of the loft, each lost in their own thoughts for another moment, until Rick broke the silence.

"When did you know?" he asked.

"That I was in love with you?"

"Mmm."

"Well," she started, "I've known for a long time that I cared for you, as a friend, as a partner. And somewhere along the way I started to realize it was more than that; deeper than that. But it wasn't until ..." She hesitated a moment, and drew in a breath before she could continue. "When I saw that bank blow up with you inside, that's when I knew for sure that I loved you - that I was _in love _with you. I was so scared that you had died in there. I was so scared that I'd never see you again."

Rick squeezed Kate's shoulders a little tighter, and placed a light kiss onto the top of her head as he whispered, "I know the feeling."

"I guess you do," Kate said quietly as she tightened her arms around Rick and smiled slightly into his chest before she continued. "When I went in the bank and saw that you were alive and safe, I was so relieved. I was never so happy to see you as I was then."

"I knew there was something different about you when I saw you there," Rick said. "Something in your eyes that I hadn't seen before. I actually thought for a second that you were going to kiss me!"

Kate laughed out loud, "So did I. But then your mother kind of broke the mood!"

Rick groaned, "Uhh, my mother. You know, you could have kissed me later, when you came over here for dinner!"

Kate grinned, "Yes, but by then, I'd had time to think, to let my logic kick in. I didn't think that I was ready to be in love with you yet. Or to let you love me. So I just swept it under the rug and kept it hidden for awhile." She paused then before asking, "So what about you, when did you know?"

"Oh, that's easy," Rick replied. "The day you shot Dick Coonan to save my life, and then you wouldn't let me quit shadowing you because you said you actually liked having me around. That's when I knew that I loved you."

"That long ago?" Kate said. "I didn't realize..." she trailed off for a moment before continuing, "I'm so sorry."

"For what?" Rick asked.

"For being stupid, and stubborn, and for making you wait for me for so long. I didn't see what was right in front of me all along."

"Hey," Rick said softly, as he brought the fingers of his right hand under Kate's chin and lifted it enough that he could look her in the eye. "No more apologies. No regrets. We're together now and that's what counts. If you weren't ready back then, well, you weren't ready. Simple as that. Maybe if we'd gotten together back then, it wouldn't have lasted. But with everything we've been through since then; we've gotten past the lies and the secrets we kept from each other; we've fought, and said horrible things to each other, and we've forgiven each other. We're stronger now than we would have been back then. Nothing's going to tear us apart ever again."

Kate's eyes had filled with tears while Rick spoke. She nodded her head, then brought her hand up to touch his cheek. "How did I ever get so lucky to have you walk into my life?"

"That's not what you were saying four years ago," Rick said with a chuckle.

Kate had to laugh at that too. "No, it wasn't. But you weaseled your way into my heart, and now there's no way I'm letting you get away," she said.

"Well, that's good," Rick said, "cause I have no intentions of leaving." Rick leaned down to her face, until their lips met for another kiss, this one more passionate than the last, lips and tongues playing against each other for a few moments. Rick broke the kiss first, but didn't move far, and pressed his forehead to hers as he spoke. "I think we need to make a couple of rules if "we" are going to work."

"Rick Castle is making rules?" Kate shook her head and laughed. "What is this world coming to?"

"Oh, these are good rules, you'll like them," he replied. "First, no more lies - only honesty between us from now on. And second, no more secrets. Lies and secrets are what got us into trouble this past year. We can't let it happen again."

"You're right, those are good rules." Kate answered. "There's only one secret that I'll let you keep from me."

"What's that?" he asked.

She brought her teeth out over her bottom lip for a moment, and with a mischievous glint in her eye, she answered, "Whatever you decide to give me for Christmas!"

His face turned serious and he almost whined, "You mean I have to get you a Christmas present?"

"Hey!" she said, giving him a light whack on the shoulder.

He laughed, and gave her a quick kiss and said, "Okay, those are good secrets. Presents get exempted from this rule!"

"I have another rule," Kate said.

"Oh, and what would that be?" he asked.

"We have to do lots of kissing - every day," she answered.

"Good rule," he replied, placing another quick kiss to her lips. Then he continued talking, but between his words, placing one light kiss after another to her lips, "So now... do we ... go ... run ... those errands ... or do we ... stay here ... and ... start over ... tomorrow?"

Kate pulled her head back, and placing her hands on his chest, she smiled up at him and said firmly, "No, we're going out. We're stopping by my place so I can pack a bag. Then we're picking up some groceries and hopefully we'll have everything we need - we won't have to leave here again for a whole week!"

"Mmmm," he said. "I like the sound of that. So let's try this again ... " and stepping back slightly, he held out his hand to her. "Ready to face the real world, for a little while, at least?"

She put her hand in his, and smiling up at him she answered, "Real world, here we come!"

**Author's Note: I puzzled over just when Rick and Kate fell in love with each other, or realized they were in love. Everyone may have a different opinion. I do think she had some kind of realization of her feelings when the bank blew up. I've seen someone express an opinion that Rick realized he was in love during the episode "Poof, You're Dead!", which is why he broke up with Gina. But, I think he was in love before that, given his reaction when Kate started going out with Demming. So, I guess that's all it is, an opinion. Hope you like it! Reviews? **


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